What’s Up With the Twitter for Mac Icon?

by Jonathan Longnecker

Would the real Twitter for Mac Icon Please Stand Up?

Here’s the thing. I really try not to gripe about things like an application icon. If it’s horrible you can always go make one yourself, right? But the Twitter for Mac icon saga warrants some kind of discussion.

In case you didn’t know, Twitter for Mac is actually sort of Tweetie for Mac 2. The difference being that Twitter hired the creator, Loren Brichter and so version 2 was aptly re-named. In fact, the original Tweetie for Mac was so good that many people kept using it long after it went months without updates and no promise of a new version.

Twitter icons for iPhone and iPadNow don’t get me wrong, Twitter for Mac is still really good. But there’s a serious identity problem going on over at Twitter with their icons. If your a total nerd and still reading you probably remember when Tweetie 2 for iPhone was rebranded Twitter for iPhone and they changed the icon. Adding the bird was inevitable, but the execution and colors just seemed sloppy. Everyone whined, lots of “suggestions” were created and then we apparently got over it. Then Twitter for iPad came out with a really nice black textured version of the blue icon. But why was it different from the iPhone version?

And that brings us to the final saga. Twitter for Mac sported a new icon..sort of a combination of the iPhone and iPad versions but with some subtle brushed metal stuff going on. But with a totally new shape. I actually liked it quite a bit and even mustered up the energy to tweet: “It’d be great if Twitter went back and fixed their iPhone icon. iPad and new desktop icons are much better.”

If only I knew that the next update to the app would change the icon back to that nasty blue! But wait, a third update changed the color, added a 3d effect and a…wait for it…map of the earth? And this is all the span of maybe 3 weeks.

Twitter for Mac Icons

Just so you know, I’m not complaining so much about the style of the icon, but more about the inconsistency. Why in the world would you change your icon that many times? Why don’t all the icons look (mostly) the same across all platforms? Who knows. I’m just curious what you think. What’s going on over in Twitterland?

January 24, 2011

Design

Comments

  1. {screen_name}

    Nate Croft - Jan 24, 2011

    I’ve missed quite a bit in Twitterland drama since I’ve been gone. I’m not sure they have any clue what to do it seems.

  2. 2

    Jeremy Mansfield - Jan 24, 2011

    I actually still use Tweetie for the mac and still prefer it over the new twitter desktop app that got released with the new Mac App store! The change from the black to blue color was very confusing, however, on the desktop. I thought it was some sort of identifier that I had new messages or something. Still makes me think that after seeing the original black. I understand why they went blue. The black was easy to peruse over in your dock bar, and the blue sticks out much better. But this new 3D version is, um, interesting to say the least raspberry

  3. {screen_name}

    Jonathan Longnecker - Jan 25, 2011

    Yeah I’m not sure why they can’t seem to stay with their good icons. Weird stuff.

  4. 4

    Anonymous - Feb 19, 2011

    Good question. I really amused to read the story. Just wanted to say super

  5. 5

    submitcore - Jun 02, 2012

    I thought it was some sort of identifier that I had new messages or something. Still makes me think that after seeing the original black. I understand why they went blue. The black was easy to peruse over in your dock bar, and the blue sticks out much better. Thanks for sharing these cool icons.

  6. 6

    Vieux - Oct 28, 2012

    Always appreciate your tips doll.By the way—have you heard that my 1st novel is being rleeased on Amazon.com tomorrow?!  Check it out on my blog!  Have a wonderful Cinco De Mayo honey!  Kori xoxo http://www.blondeepisodes.com

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